Diablo Immortal Is Only Part of a Bigger Mobile Initiative for Blizzard

"You can expect to see more mobile titles from us spanning all of our IPs at some point in the future."

Blizzard Entertainment stated in an interview that the recently revealed Diablo Immortal is just the beginning of a bigger mobile initiative that will include all of the developer’s franchises.

In the interview with Digital Trends, Diablo Immortal‘s Production Director Dan Elggren and Blizzard Entertainment Co-Founder Allen Adham discussed the new mobile title. When asked how long the developer had this particular game in mind, they had an interesting answer.

“How long has it been on our minds? Well, if you think about it, we’ve had not only Diablo but all of our franchises, we’ve been talking about mobile and what’s the right experience on a mobile platform,” says Elggren discussing the prospect of making a successful mobile experience. “We’ve been working on this for awhile. And we’re continuing some broader initiative that, Allen, if you want to talk about those.”

Adham continues this notion by discussing Hearthstone and how that turned into a mobile game even though it was originally designed to be a desktop experience. This instance influenced them to look further into the mobile space.

“Yea, so a few years ago with Hearthstone, it was designed originally for desktop but as a happy sort of coincidence it worked well for mobile,” said Adham. “That opened our eyes to a broader opportunity. Then it’s just been a question of surfacing the teams and resources and designs to make this happen.”

It seems Hearthstone is the catalyst for this train of thought. It also seems that these teams, designs, and resources have now surfaced and it starts with Diablo Immortal. But that is just the beginning.

“I can say, without getting overly specific, that we have big plans for the mobile space,” says Adham confirming that Blizzard Entertainment plan to explore the platform further. “It’s a big initiative for us across Blizzard, and you can expect to see more mobile titles from us spanning all of our IPs at some point in the future.”

Michael Ruiz is a staff writer at DualShockers. He enjoys most video games, but would be happy playing Galaga for the rest of his life. When he isn't playing games, he is probably watching professional wrestling or podcasting on Drop In/ Drop Out.